Create a Template from a Site

If you have a site that you want to use as a starting point for other sites, you can create a template from that site.

Note:

To create a template from a site, you must have the Downloader, Contributor, or Manager role for the site.

In addition, your administrator must enable the options in the Create menu. If you don’t see the Create menu on the templates page, contact your administrator.

These steps show how to create a template from a site. You can also import a template package that you created or modified offline. See Export and Import Templates.

To create a template from a site:

Click Sites and select the site you want to use.

Click Create Template.

Enter a name for the template. You can use letters, numbers, underscores (_), and hyphens (-). If you enter a space, it's automatically replaced with a hyphen.

Don’t use the following names for templates, themes, components, sites, or site pages: authsite, content, pages, scstemplate_*, _comps, _components, _compsdelivery, _idcservice , _sitescloud, _sitesclouddelivery, _themes, _themesdelivery. Although you can use the following names for site pages, don’t use them for templates, themes, components, or sites: documents, sites.

Enter an optional description for the template.

Choose whether you’ll include unpublished content items and digital assets in the template.

When you’re ready, click Create Template.

When the template is created, the name appears in the list of templates. To see all
templates, click Developer and then View All
Templates. You can control how templates are displayed by clicking
the view icon and selecting an option from the list.

To view the folders and files associated with a template, right-click the template
and choose Open. To view or change the name, description, and
other details about the template, click the template name or right-click the
template and choose Details.

The new template uses a copy of the site as its default site. The template references the theme used by the site and any custom components used in the site pages. The theme and custom components are not copied to the template, but are referenced in the same way they are by the site.

If the template was created from an enterprise site, the localization policy and default language used by the original site will be selected by default for any new sites created from the template.

The template reflects the site used to create it at the time the template is created. Any future changes to the site used to create the template are not reflected in the site stored with the template.